Friday, 20 February 2009

Valentine Day Polenta

When a girl is asked out by her sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, she usually says yes – but a trip to the dentist at 8.30am on Saturday morning to sit in the waiting room and listen to the sounds of his teeth being drilled was not that tempting. I declined. Happily, E’s teeth were feeling much better by evening so we could enjoy a nice Valentine’s dinner.

Last year in late February I had purchased a set of heart shaped cookie cutters. So this year when I decided to make polenta on Valentine’s Day, I realised I had the opportunity to use them. The recipe I had in mind is pictured in Vikki Leng’s A Vegetarian Feast and often caught my eye when I browse through that cookbook. The antipasto polenta was full of chunks of olive and sundried tomato and spring onion that made tricky work of cutting out shapes. But it was fun to do.

More successful was my experiment with cooking polenta in the microwave. I have wanted to be able to do this ever since making Polenta and Quinoa Sticks mid last year. I found a recipe on the net but ended up changing it a little. I added more water and cooked it a bit longer but was pleased that it was easy to see when it was ready. I’ve always hated the hard work of stirring polenta which is like battling an angry belching volcano of lava. Now I have made my first foray into polenta in the microwave there will be no looking back.

Both the Vikki Leng recipe and the microwave recipe suggested serving the polenta warm but I have always liked Vikki’s picture of it grilled and a little crispy around the edges. I cooked it in the oven and it was nice but I think I preferred it the next night when I reheated it under the grill (broiler). The onion and garlic in the mixture was a bit harsh uncooked so it I was to serve it soft I would reduce these. But if you don’t have time to let it set and cook, then this is a good alternative.

I wanted to keep dinner simple and served the polenta with a marinated tomato salad, which was quite vinegary, and a sauce of apricot chutney and yoghurt. I decided not to make a dessert because we had enough good sweet treats in the house: fruit salad, icy poles, choc chip cookies, and cookies & cream ice-cream. I had fruit salad and E chose the one dessert I had bought at the supermarket rather than made myself! He did redeem himself by telling me that it was the nicest polenta he had ever had because he really liked it with all the flavourings.

Antipasto Polenta(adapted from Vikki Leng and cooks.com)serves 4-5 with a side dish

Place all polenta ingredients in a large microwave safe bowl. Stir and cover. Microwave on High for 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, or until mixture has thickened to a porridge-like consistency.

Stir flavourings into warm polenta and spread on a lined lamington (or swiss roll) tray (approx 9 x 13 inch). Leave to cool for about 2 hours. After this time it should be firm enough to cook but you could place in the fridge another couple of hours or overnight to really firm it up. (Alternatively, you could serve it soft and warm straight away but you may wish to reduce the spring onions and garlic.)

Once the polenta is firm, use cookie cutters or a sharp knife to cut into shapes – I did hearts, Vikki did triangles. You could also do rectangles or circles. Place on an oven tray and spray with oil. Bake at 200 C for about 40 minutes or til crisp, turning over halfway through baking. Or cook under the grill or on a frypan.

Your polenta is lovely, and I really like all those additional goodies in it! Sounds like the dinner was a success--and luckily E's sweet tooth was still operational with all those amazing desserts! Glad you had a nice V-Day. :)

Awww, how sweet! And I'm glad that E's dentist appointment didn't spoil the romance. Putting things in polenta makes it much more interesting though I've always risked the volcano in the past - I will have to give the microwave version a go some time.

Microwaved polenta cakes?! Count me in! I've never seen such interesting additions to polenta, either, and now it seems like something I must try. Thanks for the recipe and Happy Belated Valentine's Day! :)

Awww they're adorable! And yum! Great idea cooking polenta in the microwave! I've read you can make it in the slow cooker too for less stirring (but I imagine the microwave is much quicker!) I hate all that stirring too.

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.